Despite rough economy prom goes on
By STEPHANIE LEHMAN
|
| Photo by Candace H. Johnson –
Nicole Athanas, 16, Darius Murdock, Juan Carrera, both 17, Jennel Jones, 18, Adriana Ortega, and Shareef Bradin, both 17, pose for a picture in the gym at Round Lake Senior High School before going to prom at the Grand Geneva in Lake Geneva, Wis. Darius Murdock is a student at Grayslake Central. |
It’s prom season, and thousands of teenagers throughout Lake County have, are, or will be dressing in formal attire for a rendezvous evening with friends and significant others.
But in light of a struggling economy, how have 17- and 18-year-olds been able to afford tickets – usually around $150 a couple – and proper attire to attend what many believe is “the” experience of high school?
Some have been able to rely on help from their parents, like Melanie Brommelkamp and her friends Zach Carlson and Stephennie Nedza, seniors at Wauconda High School whose parents paid for their tickets.
Others took extra shifts at work or found odd jobs to help pay for part of the cost of attending the dance, like Juan Carrerra, a junior at Round Lake High School.
Schools have made efforts, too, by hosting more and more fundraisers throughout the year to help offset ticket prices.
Still, the economy has let down at least one girl.
Lorena Rios, a member of the Junior Class Council at RLHS, worked tirelessly all year to raise money for prom. But she did not attend the event May 2.
Rios’ sister is a senior at RLHS, and at $75 a ticket, her family couldn’t afford to send both girls to the dance at Grand Geneva Resort and Spa in Lake Geneva, Wis. Rios decided to let her sister enjoy the evening, while she stayed home.
“It’s too expensive,” Rios said.
The economy has had a direct impact on proms throughout the county, including WHS, said junior class sponsor Tanya Roy.
Despite selling tickets for $75 a person – the same price they’ve been for years, Roy said – sales were down. Nearly 370 students attended prom last year. This year, only 296 bought tickets.
The cost of prom has increased because of the economy, Roy said. Nearly $23,000 will be spent for WHS students to attend “A Night in Vegas” on Friday, May 14, at the Chevy Chase Country Club in Wheeling.
But the prom committee made extra efforts to keep prices down.
After noticing last year that several students had shown a need for financial help to attend prom, Roy had the prom committee sell concessions at a turnabout dance earlier this year. That money subsidized tickets for half a dozen students that otherwise couldn’t have attended the event, Roy said.
The school also has offered $20 discounts on tickets for students who scored well on their Prairie State Achievement Examinations.
Other schools have found similar ways to keep prom affordable.
Lakes Community High School – which hosted its prom April 24 at the Marriott Resort in Lincolnshire – gave 31 students free prom tickets for having perfect attendance throughout the school year, including zero tardies.
LCHS saved money other ways, too, prom coordinator Lesia Semitka said. The committee could have hired an outside company to decorate its venue at a cost of $8,000 to $9,000.
Instead, the committee made its own decorations and spent less than $2,000, and nothing was lost in the effect, said senior Kelly Dean, a member of the prom committee.
“I don’t think if we had spent $9,000 on decorations it would have mattered,” she said. “I don’t think the students would have noticed.
It was a lot more fun [doing our own decorations] than having someone go in and do it. It’s prom. If there’s good music and good food, they are happy.”
RLHS went so far as to enter a contest through Proms Across America, and received $1,000 toward its prom when its students outvoted every other school in the state to win the cash.
The money was put toward decorations and favors, junior class sponsor Nicole Herchenbach said, and also helped spark school morale.
In a similar spirit, Anna Laskowski and Tammy Freund, guidance counselors at RLHS, created Cinderella’s Closet to help girls attend prom.
The two women solicited staff members, former RLHS students and community members to donate gently used prom dresses for girls to take home, free of charge.
At least 20 girls took advantage of Cinderella’s Closet, but more could have benefited, the women said.
“We had a lot of girls come in after and say, ‘If we had known about this, we could have gone to prom because we couldn’t afford both [a dress and ticket],” Freund said.
• Reporter Colin Selbo contributed to this report.
